It is About How and Why These Systems Came To Be.

"...There are no bars as to race, religion, or social status. A man who is willing to play like a man gets a man's chance. Thus it may be that men like Bernie Bierman are making a finer contribution to the civilization of our time than is today generally recognized."

John L. Griffith,
Commissioner of Athletics
Intercollegiate Conference
August 1937

As I sweat over a hot smoker on a humid Saturday afternoon, I pondered. Although it began as such, my fascination with the classic football texts is no longer mainly about the x's and o's that specific systems or schemes present. I became fascinated with understanding the thought processes and philosophies of the coaches/authors.

 

 

How and why have these systems come to be?

Bierman gets right down to brass tacks:

"What makes a great coach?" he asks, while conveying a story in which Pop Warner replied: "Great Material"



It can be easy to pretend that our current questions surrounding football are unprecedented, but we move further along -the more we forget- the more questions are asked, the more times the same answers come in reply.

The cycle of football life continues.

In football, there exists a seemingly eternal call and response of answers to challenges presented by opposing systems of rules, schemes, and obstacles.

We, along with the late Bernie Bierman, Bear Bryant, Biggie Munn, et al remain hostages of the inescapable reality that at the end of the day it always comes down to:

"Great material"

Bierman speaks of this -great material- anecdotally and with some bemusement:

"Knute Rockne spoke of now and then as his ultimate ideal in a gridiron performer. That outstanding mentor, an ideal himself so far as the human qualities were concerned, suggested as the zenith in deception, a cross-eyed backfield star who could forward pass with either hand."

It is Bierman's further point, and really at the core of this text; To provide thoughts on not only how to DEVELOP said great material, but also to offer a reason as to WHY a coach should strive to develop it:

"[But] they learn, too, how to lose. And knowing how to lose in the best American tradition, because in this country a loss one day only adds zest to the fight to win the next." 

"The Coach who discovered the secret of making football players like to block made the contribution supreme to the modern game." 

Another interesting and ironic historic and philosophical note addresses blocking schemes and blocking technique(with a keen eye for down field blocking technique).

In today's game of football, where inside and outside zone runs reign supreme, it is of paramount importance to limit negative runs (I know, I KNOW) by making sure that the defensive bodies lined up on the line of scrimmage are successfully accounted for and blocked FIRST:

Read Chip Kelly's Clinic on IZR Here.

According to Bierman in the times proceeding 1937:

"It was the practice to send two men against the defensive end, two men against the defensive tackle-two men against any key man of the defense, in fact-who had a possibility of making a tackle behind the LOS on any particular play."

WELL!

Bierman continues, again proving that the cycle of strategy and tactics is an endless looping cycle:

"What waste  of man power in the light of present day tactics."

Amusing, confounding and brilliant.

Winning Football at Abebooks.com